Wishful Thinking
by WittyFlower
Summary: Ino finally gets to admit her feelings for her teammate, exactly on the day he wants her to meet his girlfriend.
1. Wishful Thinking you might be mine

_Shika…_

_I think about you in a way I should not. _

_I think about you too much, I think badly about you and then I repent myself; I think you near and I feel you far away. I do anything to keep me occupied...can you believe it? I'm actually reading all the books you lent me, all the books I teased you about. But the truth is, I did it only to see you heat up, to see that fire in your eyes that only people who really know you can distinguish beyond your sagacious expression._

_So here I am, living other people's lives in order to flee from mine, because if I look inside of me, I feel you: hot and magnetic in my chest._

_I can't tell if I'm in love with you, but when I see you smile I always wonder if here __there's ever been, somewhere, a smile for my eyes only._

_I keep repeating myself__ that it's better this way, because that's exactly what I asked to the God you don't believe into: I asked Him for it to end now, if it had to. And, slowly, it's dying._

_It is dying the fire of your impulse for me, it's frosting like winter flower buds born from their rush to live and blossomed in a single night. _

_I'm burning for you while you're the shadow I long to lighten__. But maybe if all that I desire was to be, if you and I could stay in the same room and live the same breathe, maybe...maybe we won't be ourselves anymore and the world around us would be different._

_Maybe fate doe__sn't want us together...but maybe, just maybe, it doesn't want us separate too. I believed for a while, I hoped with all my hearth that we could become an 'us', and then suddenly I wasn't all by myself, not any more. _

_Or so I believed._

_And it might seem __crazy to you, but here I am, still waiting for you, alone and aching but still joyful because joy is what you deserve, what I would give you, because it's you that arouse it in me._

_Ino._

She put the pen down crying, and whilst crying she felt pathetic.

She took the letter and tore it apart, throwing it out of her window.

Then she got up, washed her tears away and put some make up on. She didn't put any mascara on but she went down the stairs with a fiery expression, holding her head high to meet her.

That woman that gatecrashing in his life, had destroyed hers.


	2. Drifting on every step

Together they joked, together they laughed. Ino talked to her, smiling all along and finding every possibile topic of conversation: spoken by her, all things seemed strangely plausibile.

And she had been extremely polite to the other girl, just as he asked her, a true lady that showed the other one around, that carried her in places he would have not, but that the other one liked immensely, so much that she said: "We absolutely have to go out toghether again, some other time".

Ino had been perfect, but she never sought Shikamaru's eyes, not once.

Then Shikamaru and Ino proceeded to accompany the girl to the hotel she stayed in. And the couple said their goodbyes, without even kissing, without even hugging.

Now Shikamaru was accompanying home his _her_ of all time: Ino.

It was ironic how until then he used '_her_' only for Ino.

When something happened in his life, something he never expected to and that maybe he wouldn't have wanted, she was always around.

When he first came home all wet form kindergarten and his mother asked him about it, his answer was: "_Her_".

When he sported a black eye from the academy, the answer was: "I tripped", but the reason was _her_.

When his companions saw a real smile on his face it was because, altough she didn't want to, they were assigned on the same team.

And now here he was, scorting her home, like he had not done in a long time.

After his Chuunin promotion they took different paths: at first they tried to see each other now and then, but since Asuma – sensei died it was not the same thing.

And Shikamaru, and Ino too, had worked hard, relentlessly, each at his own task, each to demonstrate something to the other, even if they ignored that:

"I am more than meets the eyes"

"I am better than Sasuke"

And they did not know that both of them, deep down, already knew that.

The route was incredibly quiet until Shikamaru decided to talk: "Ino, are you okay?".

_Obviously not, Shika…I can't be okay when she's here _she thought.

"Yes..." she answered "I am only a little bit tired, that's all...It will pass eventually" she said conceiling her eyes from him.

"All passes eventually" she whispered.

And it was in that moment, when all she wanted was to be as far from him as possible, it was right when she turned her back on him that she felt his hand grip her wrist and in a strange twist she found herself pressed against him, breathing against his chest.

He didn't ask her anything, he didn't tell anything, bur his heart was pounding while Ino was tanking God he could not hear hers, wildly beating inside her chest.

She _died_ in that hug, she suffocated in the astounding affection he showed. She felt that affection, she breathed it deep, because she knew perfectly well that that moment would not come again, not for her.

Meanwhile, she felt his hands caress her back, intruding in her hair and messing it up, then start massaging her neck and driving her mad in the process.

"Thank you" he murmured palcidly amongst her hair, and everything ended in that whisper.

They separated from each other's arms slowly, and while Shikamaru held her hands, Ino bit her bottom lip to avoid crying in his presence.

Then she turned around and entered her house without looking back.

She knew it was not polite to go away without even saying her farewell, but she did not care beacuse she knew deep down that mere seconds of paradise in his arms would mean her personal hell, in that day and in the coming days.


	3. Sweet sweet nothing's said

A damn headache was all she could feel in that wakening in the middle of the night, and she knew perfectly well that it was not due to too much drinking, beacuse she never let it happen.

Simply, she had cried, hiccupped and cried over and over again.

It seemed she had not done anything else in the last days: crying, crying, crying.

"Ino? Princess, is there something wrong?"

_Damn_ Her father was just home and he heard her crying. Now she knew he would not leave her alone until he knew everything from the beginning. Ino was ceratin of that, because she would have done the same thing.

"Dad…" she started. Then: "No, it's nothing, really" she wishpered.

"Princess" her father repeated. He sat down on her bed and started caressing her back: "You have done a lot of growing up lately, but I think I can still understand when you're sad".

Ino didn't know what to say, so she did the only thing she remembered how to do: she cried.

Her father took her in his arms, and hold on to her, and stroked her hair.

_How different this hug was from that of Shikamaru! This one was warm and calming; the other one was a calm badly simulated, it was veiled passion and bursting attraction, denied._

In the blink of an eye, she fell asleep in her father's arms, like she hadn't done in a long time.

It was Thursday evening, the evening sacred to the Ino-Shika-Cho trio.

Shikato did not remember one single thursday evening he did not participate to the reunion, so he relaxed and went to their usual meeting place. His companions were already there with their glasses full and saké ordered in large quantities: tha same as always.

"Ehi, Inoichi, is there something wrong?" Shikato asked upon seeing his friend's troubled expression.

"It's just the fact he has a daughter, that's it!" said Choza anticipating their usual debate and raising his glass to cheer.

"No" was Inoichi's answer "It's just the fact _you_ have a _son_, Shikato".

The brown haired ninja was stunned: "What…?"

"Ino has been crying all night long, and maybe a good part of the day too" Inoichi ansered sternly.

"Shikamaru came home with his usual attitude" replied Shikato "But Yoshino said his light has been switched on until late. Do you think something happened between them?".

It was funny to see how the usually placid looking Shikato got all worked up when he talked about Ino: he always boasted of having a male son, but all of them saw pretty well how he adored that particular girl. When Shikamaru had his birthday, Shikato always took him to buy a present for her. "It's just to educate him to be generous" he used to say, but all of them knew it was because he had a soft spot for his best friend's daughter.

"I saw them hugging" Inoichi said in a wishper.

Shikato shut up, and Choza didn't utter a word.

It was what they had all feared for sometime: they always argued when Ino tried to impose herself on the others or when Choji ate their lunch; but the problem they avoided to talk about, the problem that had not risen up yet was another one, and the three of them knew it.

"Last week, in front if my house" Inoichi said braking the silence; Shikato nodded.

Ino and Shikamaru didn't touch. It had always been like that between them: she bossed him around but their physical contact was bound to battles, and neither talked about it.

So, the moment had come.

"Was it on Thursday?" Shikato asked upon a brief pause.

"The only thing I know is Ino was crying like there was no tomorrow, and the last time I saw her like that was when she fought with Sakura, and that was long ago." Inoichi said without answering his friend's question.

"The daughter of a friend of Yoshino came to town last Thursday" said Shikato "She had to do soma kind of negotiation between villages and her mother asked Shikamaru to show her around" he finished, and, that said, he stood up and went home.

I'd like to thank who read the story so fare, and in particular:

**Hhstyle**: I know it's not easy to understand this ficlet, but keep reading and hopefully all will become clear! Thamk you for your kind words!

**mmm.kai.mmm**: No, the story isn't finished yet: it's about 8 chapters long! Thamk you for dropping your review! )

**Snow Goddess Yuka-chan**: Thank you girl, here you go!


	4. And everything stands so still when you

"Shikamaru!"

_What a drag! __Not only mum is all: "Shikamaru do this, Shikamaru go there…"; now my dad is in it too! __Damn._

_To think I'm of age doesn't really help matters. I feel like a two years old._

"Shikamaru! You come down this instant!"

"Yeah, I'm coming…" the boy shouted lazily.

What the hell did his faher want at this time of the night? And why in the world was he already at home? Wasn't today the Ino-Shika-Cho day? He didn't usually…

"Shikamaru! Now!"

"Yes, yes, what is it?"

"Sit down"

_Hell, things aren't going to be easy if he starts __out like that…_

The boy didn't argue anymore and did as he was told. Then he looked his father in the eye, silently invinting him to go on.

"Come on, say something" Shikato said in response.

"Dad, what the hell do you want from me?" Shikamaru bursted out "Why do you call me at this hour to talk to me and then you ask me to start? Are you drunk already?".

Shikato didn't laugh: "Shikamaru, I'm warning you: don't try to get smart with me."

That shut the boy up.

"What happened between you and Ino?" questioned the older man.

"Nothing" answered the boy. It was the truth: the pure, simple, burnign truth. There was nothing more true than that, and this broke his heart.

_Nothing_. Eighteen years since they knew each other, eighteen years since he started dreaming of her, desiring her and eighteen years he did nothing about it. _What an idiot!_

He had let days pass by, sure that she would always be there and that she would never see him with the same look he reserved for her; eighteeen years spent playing hide and seek, making her angry and the serving her, sustaining her, feeling her becoming essential to him and hiding that from her as if it was his most cherished treasure. She was all that. And she did not knew any of that.

"Shikamaru?" his father's voice shook him awake.

"I said _nothing_, dad" the boy answered stoically.

"Obviously you have two very different ways of seeing things, since she was crying after she met you".

_She was crying…? Ino? _

Shikamaru trembled, shaken by a whirlpool of emotions: anger against himself, for making her cry, indignation agains her, because he had found out about it from his father, of all people, and...joy.

Not happiness, but a little, fiery sparkle of joy. Joy because these tears were for him. He never had other tears than his own, other sorrows than his own, but now...now he had Ino's sorrows to care for, now he had Ino's tears to dry and her bitter thoughts to look after. He now had a whole new world that he had always refused: and it was yellow, and blue, and purple, and all the coluors that the mere thought of her provoked.

"Shikamaru? Are you listening to me?" Shikato seemed bothered, now "I don't want you to do her any harm, is this clear?".

"Yes dad" the boy answered with a new light in his eyes.

"Well" said Shikato "Because that girl deserves only joy, right?".

Shikamaru nodded: joy. From now on he liked the sound of that word, he decided.

_Joy is what she deserves, what I would give her, because it's her __that arouse it in me. _


	5. Wishful Thinking I might be yours

Shikamaru run breathlessly to the Yamanaka flower shop: against his attitude, he had rushed along the way, as if his speed could make up for his apathy in the last years.

When he finally arrived in front of the closed entrance, he came to a halt. He could see Ino through the big window, he could observe her with his heart beating from the previous run, and he felt incredibly alive.

She was in there, wirring between flower and flower, halting now and then to appreciate one of the buds, then picking another one, twirling between counter and vases, in a dance that was for his eyes only.

But she wasn't aware of that.

Ino was inhaling the scent of flowers: to her, the shop was like a second home, the home of emotions and scents, and of beauty. The flowers gave her a unique sense of peace, and they were so…beautiful.

To her, they were the symbol of the uselessness of beauty: they represented how in some amount of time, short or long, beauty ends in nothingness...but how much joy they could bring! How nice it was when a girl received flowers, seeing her face brighten up at the sight of that beautiful, useless things, for _her_. To that girl, flowers would always seem the most precious gift in the world, because a flower is like free given time: it's there, it lasts a bit, and then it fades away, leaving behind itself the scent of its memory.

Ino could move with eyes closed amongst the vases: she knew the entiere array of plants in the shop by heart. When she was a child, she used to change their places just to play with her dad.

It was in the shop she had her fist memory of Shikamaru: they were little kids, maybe three years old when Shikato entered the shop with his son. Ino was there, naturally, and upon seeing him, she hid behind a chrysanthemum.

"_Shikato, I was waiting for you" Inoichi said then "And I prepared the azaleas you always take for your wife. Take my best wishes to her"._

_Shikato smiled in turn and then looked at Shikamaru: "See son, you have to bring a lady flowers to enter her books..."_

_Shikamaru looked at his father with a strange expression: "Then I will take this for the hidden girl" he solemnly said clasping a daisy._

"_Girl" he then asked talking to the chrysanthemum "Can you come out now I brought you a flower?". _

Ino shook her head. She was not going to forget him that way. But she had to, for her sanity. In that week she had cried all the time and she knew she could not continue that way. She had to begin to eat again, to resume sleeping and leading her normal life, with or without Shikamaru. She had always been a strong person, and now it was time to demonstate it, to herself and to the others.

Even if…even if what she was doing right now was a bouquet. For _him_.

From _her_. The smiling girl had commissioned her the bouquet for Shikamaru, and now she was making it, as a requiem for her love.

That was why she couldn't decide herself on what flowers to use, because she couldn't move herself to say goodbye. So she was wirring, undecided, between the vases.

Shikamaru was staring motionless at her: she was so beautiful in her unconscious dance, so graceful and full of life, yet she seemed sad: devoted and sad in the her task.

And the boy knew that her sadness was his fault.

But it was time to change things.

Shikamaru smiled, and before he could knock at the door, Ino turned around with an astonished look on her face: "Shikamaru!".


	6. Everthing spins so fast

The boy stood speechless upon hearing her call his name.

_Say it again, princess_, he begged without speaking.

While he was standing there, motionless in the cold only to look at her, Ino went and opened the door for him, taking him by the hand and dragging him in the inside the shop.

"You're freezing!" she said, worry evident on her features.

"What were you thinking going out like this, without a jacket, at this hour of the night…" she rambled on.

He simply shrugged: "I'm fine".

She ceased speaking and looked at him.

He reciprocated her glare and, after a week, they wasted time looking in each other's eyes.

Ino was the first one to break the contact: "Why are you here?" she demanded, and then she realized that her pitch of voice was more harsh than she had hoped for.

Shikamaru opened his mouth several times, without actually uttering a word.

Then he smiled.

"Hi" he said, simlpy.

Ino smiled.

"Hi" she responded vaguely amused.

"You're beautiful".

The smile died on her lips. She had imagined several things, but she definitely didn't expect him to say that.

"You're beautiful and I'm an idiot" he continued with an unearthly composure.

At that, she found the words to counteract: "Shikamaru, I forbid you to say such things! You can be many things, but an idiot…that's the last thing you can say about yourself".

_This_ was familiar to her. The continuous bickering and the silent peace that came after, the strange understanding that came out of their disputes and the passion they let out, through these words.

_This _she could manage.

But Shikamaru shut her: "Would you shut up?".

His tone was not harsh tough

While the girl's eyes were burning with rage, his own were becoming sweeter: "You have nothing to demonstrate to me, Ino". He said, simply.

"I know you're not simply beautiful, but also intelligent, and kind…I know it, always have. I was just too stupid to do anything about it. And now….now I know that if I step on this invisibile line between us, I can't go back, but….maybe, just maybe…I didn't caluculate the hypothesis that it might be so right, not wanting to go back".

Then, slowly, as in a dream, Ino felt his hands brush her cheek, sliding sweetly on her chin and resting on the nape of her neck. After that, her senses were completely absorbed by her mouth, where his own lips were resting.

A light kiss, then two, three and again, again until the count was lost in these gentle yet imploring kisses, shyly asking for something more.

It was in that moment, when tenderness was turning into passion, that Ino separated herself from him and screamed: "Shikamaru! How could you!".

"What?" Shikamaru didn't understand what was happening "I…"

He had thought, hoped…foolishly, he now understood, that she could reciprocate his feelings, but now...

"Ino, I'm sorry, I thought…"

_Idiot, idiot, idiot, you ruined everything!_

"Can't you understand?" she asked, her eyes watering "It's not my forgiveness you have to ask for...it's _hers_! You can't just come here and …God, I was going to kiss you with all my soul, but she...It's not fair, it would have been _her_ suffering, and terribly so. I _know_ how does it feel." Her last words were a barely audible wishper.

She walked away, turning her back to him.

And then Shikamaru, for the second time that evening, did something she would not have expected: he laughed. He laughed like he had not done in a long time, a carefree, spontaneous laugh.

"Ino, you…you thought she was my girlfriend?" he asked.

Ino didn't like his reaction in the slightest: "Don't laugh!" she ordered banging her hands against his chest "Don't laugh I said!" she repeated.

Shikamaru tried to take her hands, but she wrestled free and ran away, until she felt herself hugged from behind.

"You can't even imagine how bad I felt…" Ino was sobbing now "I thought I had lost you" she said between sobs "I always thought you wolud be there for me, always and forever, sustaining me and holding me..." she was trembling.

"Ino" he called softly. She continued crying, refusing to look at him.

"Ino" he repeated "I'm doing all that. I'm here, I'm sustaining you, I'm holding you".

"I felt like earth was quaking" she said watching her tears dripping on the floor "I felt lost, abandoned…and I know it's an egoistical thing to say, but I…"

"Ino" Shikamaru said her name for the third time, moving aside a strand of hair from her blushing face "There has never been anyone else" he wishpered planting a soft kiss below her ear

"Always you" another kiss, on her neck;

"Only you...".

With her silence he became bolder, feeling her panting through her snow white shoulder blades.

Then, when Ino deicided to let the pleasure of surrender take over her, suddenly Shikamaru's arms were gone, his warm breath abruptly vanished.

Ino turned around, and tentatively spoke: "Shika?"

He was still there, he was not a dream, and his eyes were sparkling and a flower was in his hand: "Can you forgive me now?"

Ino threw herself in his arms: "There has never beeen a second, not a single instant I blamed you" she said kissing him with passion.

Then they said no more: there had been eighteen years of words between them; now it was time to _feel_.

Feel his arms around her waist, his hands roaming on her back, holding her close and fleeing beyond, along her sides and her thighs, then again towards her neck, and her hair, and her cheeks...

Feel her warm breath panting on his face, and breathing the same breath, and feeling her tears on his cheeks, and her labored breathing on his neck...

Feel…

"Ino!".

Unexpectedly, a voice called for the girl at the shop's entrance.

**I'd like to answer to those who were kind enouch to leave a review:**

**Esoteric Memories**thank you very much! Unfortunately, I'm italian and I wrote the story in my language, then I proceeded to translate it, so it might not be an excellent work because I don't have someone to beta read it for me and correct my grammar errors...I'm glad it's still readable tough!

**mmm.kai.mmm**thanks for dropping a review: you're right, it's always nice to have it!

**Sorrel-Piedra**: Wow, thank you! Thank you very much indeed...glad to hear from you!

**HyUcHiHa**: I Know you're a ShikaIno fan, and well...I am too as you can see! Thank you for your review, it left me smiling, and I'll keep reading your fanfic! Hope to hear from you soon!

Ps Don't get psyched! XD

**H****hstyle**: Thanks for pointing out the parts you particularly liked, it shows how deeply you read into a text!


	7. And the night's in a papercup

_Here you go: passing chap__ter. I immensely enjoy myself in writing them interacting with their parents!_

"Honey…what's going on?" Inoshi asked while observing the scene before him.

"Dad!" Ino exclaimed separating herself from Shikamaru, but cotinuing to hold his hand.

"Shikamaru, why is Ino crying?" the man asked to the boy in an angered tone.

"Dad!" Ino tried to speak again, but again she was ignored.

"Why is she crying, Shikamaru?" the man repeated towards the younger ninja, who was blushing madly.

"I…please, don't get angry…" the boy said not making much sense.

"Daad!" Ino repeated louder. Upon not receiving an answer for the third time, she went to her father, and hugged him: "It's only joy" she wishpered holding onto him.

Inoshi seemed to relax upon hearing his daughter speak.

"I't's only joy" she repeated separating from him and looking Shikamaru in the eyes.

In exchange, she received a smile.

"Mum made wagashi." Inoshi said looking at his daughter. Ino smiled at him, then she nudged towards Shikamaru waiting for her dad to say something.

"Shikamaru, do you like wagashi?" the man asked then.

"Ehm…yeah, of course…" the boy answered fidgeting a little.

"Right" said Ino cheerfully "then why don't we go to eat them together?" she proceeded to take her father by the arm, and Shikamaru by the other one, walking them to the house.

They reached the entrance of the Yamanaka residence in a little time: Ino smiling all along, Shikamaru intently observing the floor and Inoshi caressing his daughter.

"Mum, we're home!" the girl shouted enthusiastically once she entered the house.

Inoshi caressed her face: "I think you better go wash your face, Princess, before you get to see mum".

"You're right, dad" she answered giving him a kiss before going to the bathroom.

Shikamaru stared at the point she vanished for a while, then he heard someone call his name. Ino's mother was standing in front of him, smiling, with a tray in her hands.

"I'm sorry I came this late" Shikamaru wishpered.

"Oh, no…" she replied with a gesture of her hand "it was already time, darling" she answered, still smiling.

That left Shikamaru speechless.

"Here I am!" Ino exclaimed upon returning. Before sitting down, she placed a kiss on her mother's chhek, then she took a wagashi and ate it in two bites.

"They're wonderful" she said while chewing.

"What is it?" she asked looking at Shikamaru, who had been watching her for a while.

He blushed for the umpteenth time that evening: "Mh? It's nothing" he mumbled "I always said you would look better with a little bit of weight on".

In an istant, he knew that it was not the right thing to say.

"I'm sorry, Shika, could you please repeat what you just said?" Ino asked "I think I heard it wrong…"

"Honey" said Inoshi "I don't think there's anything wrong with having some more roundness: look at your mother…"

"Thanks, dad, but I don't plan on putting on much weight…"

"I put on weight during my pregnancy, Ino…" her mother smiled.

"Shikamaru" Ino said with a serious look in his direction "We make one baby then stop, ok? I'll try to make a boy first, so that you can't whine on the clan coninuity, then...".

Inoshi was looking his daughter with wide eyes: his little princess was taking about babies, and talking babies meant talking...

"Ino, technically it's the man who decides on the sex of the baby" Shikamaru corrected her "because the woman has two X chromosomes, so..." while argumenting, he caught Inoshi's glare. "but…I think it's a little too soon to talk about that, isn't it?"

"It is" Inoshi confirmed "Definetly too soon."

His wife spoke then: "Dear, take another wagashi, and don't choke on it".

"Well, it is not entirely true" Ino continued "because I heard that if during the conceiving..."

Shikamaru felt himself heating up: "Ino, don't you want another wagashi too?" he interrupted her. "They're wonderful, aren't they?" he smiled forcedly, desperatley trying to change the subject.

She nodded, unable to speak.

"It's because you chose well, love" her mother said, and Shikamaru relaxed for the first time since Inoshi's entrance: he didn't know why, but he had the distinct impression that Ino's mother wasn't talking about wagashis.

Thanks to my wonderful reviewers:

**HyUcHiHa**Thank you very much! Thanks for pointing out which part did you like best, it's very important to me!

**Daxo**yes, it would be high time for Shikamaru to run away, but unfortunately for him, Ino does not agree...

**mmm.kai.mmm**Inoshi, who else? Wouldn't want his princess touched by anyone!

**Sorrel-Piedra**Here's your chapter! (I received the adorable puppy! Yay!...but I'm waiting for the Shikamaru one...).

Thank you very much, you're the funniest reviewer ever!

**Esoteric Memories**Ok, thank you very much...I'll try and correct it! 


	8. When you want it to last

Shikamaru tried not to smile.

The situation was very much alike that of three years ago, when he first entered the Yamanaka residence with Ino's hand in his much larger one.

This time too, there were him, embarassed as ever, Inoshi, with his terrible glare (he even thought he could hear the man's voice: "For now it will do, Nara, but I dare you to make just one wrong move, just once..."); the ever smiling Mrs Yamanaka, whom he came to love as a mother...then there were the Akimichis, his own mother (but he was sure there had been some kind of crib switch) and his father, Shikato.

Choza was, as always, busy with food, Shikato with drinks and Inoshi...looking at him, as if he were so stupid to do something deprecable before his girlfriend's overprotective father.

They had just finished eating and the elders had gone to the living room to chat, when Ino insisted to be the one to order the remnants of food.

She was intent in her task when Shikamaru hugged her from behind.

"Shika, what are you doing?" she asked freeing herself from him "My father might come and..."

"Let him come" he murmured, kissing her neck.

"No" she said firmly.

"I thought you liked it" he pouted.

"I know I don't particulary like spending twenty minutes a day putting make up on to cover its effects" she huffed, but he could see she was not truly irritated.

"Come here…" he said taking her in his arms.

"Shika, I'm serious" she wishpered touching his forehead with hers "Not in here."

"What do I have to do, ask for your hand to have the permission to touch you in your house?" he frowned.

"That's an idea" she smiled brushing his lips in a soft kiss.

Believe it or not, Ino Yamanaka was an hopeless romantic. She lived other's lives until Shikamaru entered her life. Then every sigle fantasy she had not had become a reality. He managed...he managed to be romantic without actually doing it, he managed to guess her desires before she even thought about it, before she even realized she had them, somewhere deep in her soul. He was like that, different from her every childish fantasy, but so undoubtably _right_ for her. He was not the other half of the sky, like she always dreamed; he was entirely another world, wild and unexplored, _for her_.

And now he was standing there, looking at her with his enigmatic aura, curious and sly in the same time, unreadable yet familiar. He approached her and kissed her on the nose, as you do with little children. Then he went outside, to lose himself in his thoughts.

Truth be told, Shikamaru had only one thought wildly hammering his brain: Ino, marry Ino. It came to him one day, seeing his parents cuddling on the sofa, when they thought he was not at home.

Shikato was resting peacefully when Yoshino went to him and started one of her telltale scolding. Shikato said something that Shikamaru couldn't grasp, and Yoshino suddenly rushed in her husband's arms. Then the boy went wandering around Konoha with a single thought: _that's exactly what I want. I don't want a person that tries to comprehend me, or to be like me; I already have myself, and I annoy myself too. I need somebody that doesn't even know what bore is, that pulls me out from my apathy every time I fall into it...and I already have one person that's all of it: Ino._

He smiled, and suddenly he was wandering no more, but he had a clear objectiv and the firm will to accomplish it.

"So today's the big day, hn?".

Shikamaru heard a voice behind him. It was the voice that was always behind him, in battle and in life. He sighed and fixed his gaze on the horizon.

"It's gonna be allright" he could imagine Choji's smile behind him, as firm as the grasp he had on his shoulder.

"Thanks Choji, I appreciate it" he murmured. Then he turned,smiling, and went inside the hoouse with his friend.

Their parents were still there, laughing and messing about as if they were teenagers. _This was what he wanted, without a doubt_.

Shikamaru searched for Ino with his eyes, but when he found her, he stood still, taking the scene in.

"Come here, princess" Inoshi said taking his daughter in his lap. He never got tired of his baby.

"That dress looks wonderful on you" Shikato complimented her "Shikamaru is a lucky man".

"It's a present from Choji" she answered while Choza asked: "Is there a spacial occasion, princess?".

Ino shook her head, while his father caressed her head.

"Shikamaru, Choji, come here!"

The Nara boy looked at Choji and together they went in the family ring, so that Shikamaru was sitting on the armrest of the sofa his parents were sitting on, and he was soon lost in his girlfriend's eyes.

It was strange how every single thought seemed to dissipate in front of her, eyes looking his direction.

They continued discreetly looking and smiling to the other one, as simple as that: Ino on her father's lap, Shikamaru near his own father.

"...is that right, Shikamaru? Shikamaru?" Shikato asked. The second time he accompanied his request with a poke.

"Uh? Geez, dad, it's not necessary for you to elbow me, I was listening anyway…"

"Were you really?" Shikato asked, skepticism evident in his voice "It looked to me like you were more _looking_..." he completed in a suggestive tone.

The others burst out laughing, while Ino bit her lip not to embarass him and Inoshi instinctively tightened his grasp on his daughter.

Yoshino shook her head: "Shikato, is it really necessary to embarass your son in front of everyone?"

"Love, I can't do anything if he's practically at the girl's feet!"

They all laughed for the second time.

"And I don't blame him, princess" he continued with a wink to Ino, that blushed a little in turn.

After that little exchange of words, Shikato realized that his son was litterally at the girl's feet, kneeling before her.

"Shika?" Ino was looking at him questioningly, caressing his cheek.

"Shikamaru, your father was kidding…" Choza started to say, but he interrupted himself as he felt his son's hand on his arm.

Shikamaru smiled upon feeling everyone's attention on him, but he didn't blush: he had nothing to be embarassed about. Simply, he had chosen to do it there, in that way, before the people he most loved.

"Ino" he started. The girl smiled at him, taking his hand to help him stand up. A simple gesture of affection, certainly not necessary, but surely exential.

He was fast and turned her hand, kissing it with devotion.

Everything went still.

"My father is right, you know" he murmured, and even though he was behind him he spoke: "Don't smile, dad, it will not happen again in the next five years, just to be on the average."

They all laughed.

"Dad's right tough" he continued, his eyes still fixed into Ino's. "I knew what I was doing that day. I gave up a dream to pursue another one. I found out that I didn't want an average family, with a wife and sons, as long as they were there. I wanted a family, but I wanted it _with you_. Without you, I didn't want any of that."

Ino's eyes were watering.

"And I know that maybe it might seem too early for this, but...I don't want to wait for a joy I already got a glimpse of. I lived all my life doing the minimum effort to get what I wanted, only to arrive to the conclusion that what I wanted most...wasn't up to me. Because my happiness depends on you, now".

Yoshino snuggled close to Shikato.

"It depends on your answer" Shikamaru wishpered holding a velvet box.

Then he lifted his glare a little, toward Inoshi.

"I knew it was only a matter of time" the man nodded, his eyes slightly red.

Shikamaru smiled, and opened the box.

"Ino..." he started, and she couldn't repress a sob.

"Ah, don't cry woman" he scolded her, caressing her cheek "Or your father will think I'm capable only of that" he smiled.

She smiled too.

"Sorry, Shikamaru, it's..."

"Ehi, ehi" he answered shutting her mouth "I don't need a treaty, baby. I only need an answer. Possibly, a yes" he said drying her tears.

"Yes!" she shouted, throwing herself at him, hugging him and holding him as close as possible.

The boy stood up gathering her in his arms, he gave her a light peck on the lips and put the ring on her finger. Then he felt an hand on his shoulder.

"Well done" was all his father said before hugging him.

Ino was crying in her mother's arms.

"My baby..." the woman said "I knew it from the first time I saw him pass that threshold three years ago, Ino, that he would never let you go".

Ino then hugged her father while Shikamaru was receving pats on his shoulder by men and watery smiles from women; then he turned to her, his woman, he out stretched his hand and when she accepted it he pulled her into his arms to never let go.

Ladies and gentlemen, that was the epilogue. I admit it made me happily sad, but I think it was time to finish it up.

I'd like to thank all the people who read this story, and those who reviewed it: you rock!

In paricular:

**HyUcHiHa**: Thank you for reviewing every chapter! Sorry for the rice spilling! (or not...XD)

**Cherry Blossom Ino**: Thank you for your kind words: yes, there is a high possibility the story is full of spelling mitakes, because english isn't really my mother language! But thank you for ignoring them and keeping reading! (by the way, if you have the time to signal the flaws to me...you're more than welcome, I'd like to fix them!)

**Esoteric memories**: Yes! More of the parents in this chapter! Somehow, I think they're so much part of their (Ino and Shikamaru's) history...so I put them in every time I can!

Sorrel – Piedra: Yes! Free Gaara plushie! (does a little dance). Thank you so much, you made me laugh with every review!


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